Another day, another airball's worth of criticism for the LSU women's basketball program.
This time it came in the form of a first-time critique of the Tigers' pregame ritual, which included them not being on the floor for the National Anthem. Iowa was on the court, something that was pointed out by an Outkick writer, with responses clarifying that this has been the case all year and was anything but unusual in college sports.
That didn't prevent the practice from being questioned in the aftermath of the Tigers' loss to the Hawkeyes and a confused Kim Mulkey explaining the situation, nor did it prevent Gov. Jeff Landry from chiming in, calling for players to potentially lose their scholarships for not being on the floor. As usual, the discourse missed the mark entirely, as WWL sports director Steve Geller broke down Tuesday on SportsTalk.
"I just want to point out, too, to everybody, guess what, the game on that came on right afterwards, the other matchup between USC and UConn, neither team was on the court for the National Anthem," Geller said, wondering where the criticism was of that decision.
Being on the court for the Anthem is not required in college sports and many teams opt to spend that time in the locker room preparing for the game. That's what LSU does and has done all year. But the noise is just the latest in a series of criticisms that seems to be directed at LSU and no one else. Mulkey and her players have decried blatant racism and sexism that has followed them throughout media coverage since their title win a year ago, complete with a writer who referred to the team as "dirty debutantes" in a since-edited L.A. Times column. Mulkey was also the focus of a long-form Washington Post article during this year's tournament, which she threatened with litigation if it posted with inaccurate material.
LSU players Hailey Van Lith, Flau'Jae Johnson and Angel Reese were emotional after the game discussing that dynamic.
"I don’t know what the deal is with LSU or the women’s basketball team, Kim Mulkey and this lightning rod of negativity being directed to it," Geller continued, "but as much as people are going to keep doing it, I’m going to keep bringing it up and defending it.”
Wherever you land on the Lady Tigers, though, there's no questioning their impact in growing the brand of women's college basketball. Their rematch with Caitlin Clark and Iowa was the most-watched women's college game ever, with 12.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen data. The game was reportedly the most watched basketball game of any kind since Game 7 of the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers.
